Culture Jamming Part 1

I chose the clenched fist image to manipulate for this assignment. It is often associated with the Black Panther Party and is a common symbol of solidarity for a variety of causes.

2009 Facebook Advert

Obviously it has been appropriated repeatedly over the years (I think the 2009 Facebook advert shown shows just how grossly misappropriated it can be!).

The idea of food freedom (the ability to choose to eat how you want, grow what you want, sell to whom you want) is under fire. We are rapidly losing the right to choose how we obtain our food and who we obtain it from is being cracked down on left and right.

The US government and it’s various agencies are working diligently to make sure we are only eating foods that have been grown to be less nutritious and have had Monsanto’s dirty hands on it (the head of the FDA was formerly a Monsanto executive – talk about a conflict of interest). They are systematically dismantling the small, local food sources in favor of mass farmed, GMO crops.

I imagined this appropriation when I had an assignment to generate logos for a non profit. I didn’t really develop it beyond the thumbnail, as my instructor thought it was too controversial.

I’ve created 24 stickers on a clear sticker paper that I will distribute in various locations over the next 24 hours. I have a few places in mind and will likely start tonight.

I also did another piece, that might be a bit harder to insert into the public. My street often as no parking/no stopping signs due to construction. (I am rarely ever home, but it looks sort of like I missed my opportunity for the easy target as of today. I didn’t see any signs this morning.)